Car-body



3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

J. T. GOODPELLOW.

GAR BODY.

Patented June 4, 1889.

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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2. 1 J. T. GOODFELLOW. OAR BODY.

No. 404,635. Patented June 4 1889.

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(No Model.) 3 Sheets--Sheet 3. J. T. GOODFELLOW.

GAR BODY.

No. 404,535. Patented June 4, 1889.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES THORN GOODFELLOVV, OF HUNTINGDON, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THEIRON CAR COMPANY, OF CONNECTICUT.

CAR-BODY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 404,535, dated June 4,1889.

Application filed August 16, 1888.

T0 aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES THORN GOOD- FELLOW, of Huntingdon, in thecounty of Huntingdon and State of Pennsylvania, have invented anImprovement in Railroad-Car Bodies; and the following is declared to bea description of the same.

Before my invention railroad-cars adapted for the transportation oflumber and other merchandise of a similar character have not beenadapted for carrying coal or grain or merchandise of a similarcharacter, and-likewise cars especially constructed for carrying hardand soft coal, coke, ore, grain, 850., have not been adapted forcarrying lumber or merchandise, either loose or in boxes or barrels, andthe various types of especially-adapted cars having these differingcarrying capacities are'of almost wholly different construction.

My invention relates to a railroad-car body for carrying freight, whichcar-body is of any Well-known form, but preferablyof the wellknown flator gondola shape, and which carbody, by its peculiar construction, isadapted equally well for carrying either merchandise-such as lumber orsuch othermerchandise as coke, coal, ore, and similar commodities-whichlatter merchandise is preferablydelivered from the car by means of ahopper or chute beneath the car, or a similar device. lyly inventionconsists in a railroad-car bodysuch as aflat or gondola car-wherein aportion of the bottom of the car is made as hinged doors, which in oneposition are secured level with the remainder of the bottom of the carand which in their oth erposition can be dropped by suitable mechanism,soas to form openings in the bottom of the car, and inclines or chutesbywhich the contents of the car are discharged; and I employoperating-shafts, winding-chains, and a combination of links forraising, lowering, and supporting these hinged doors. This mechanism,including the operating-shaft, is located beneath the bottom of the carand out of the way of any merchandise with which the car may be loaded,and said mechanism is so constructed as to be operated by tools atpresent in use upon railroads for operating the shafts ofcarhopper-discharging doors.

Serial in. 282,836. (No model.)

In the drawings, Figure 1. is a longitudinal section of one end of thecar-body with the hinged doors closed, and Fig. 2 is a similar view withthe hinged doors open. Fig. 3 is 5 a plan of one end of the car-body,half of the .car being shown in plan with the floor intact and the otherhalf with the flooring removed. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of one end ofthe car-body. Fig. 5 is an elevation endwise of the car-body; and Fig. 6is a cross-section of the car-body at the lines 00 m, Fig. 3.

The car-body shown in the drawings is that of a flat or gondola car, andis made with sides a, ends I), anda bottom 0, and these parts are joinedtogether by vertical irons and corner an gle-irons in the well-knownmanner of constructing such cars, and said car is supported or carriedby longitudinal side frames composed of tubes cl, that are connectedtogether and braced or supported in a manner similar to theconstructions shown and described in Letters Patent Nos. 308,034 and385,17/,heretofore granted to me, and at 6 there is a drawbar of anywell-known construction, and the running-gear is indicated at f bydotted lines. These parts heretofore described form no part of myinvention, anddo not require a more full description.

My improvement consists in the hinged 8o doors h, which are formed inthe flat bottom of the car, and the size of which may be variedaccording to the circumstances of use. The doors h are shown as hingedat 2' to rods secured to the bottom of the car, and said doors arelocated between the angle-iron strips 70 and the T-angle-iron strips 1,which strips kl are let into and fastened to the timbers and frame ofthe bottom of the car. The manner of hinging the doors may, however, bemodio fied, and there are vertical depending strips or aprons m m, thatare fastened to the under side of the bottom of the car, outside of thewidth of the hinged doors h, and these aprons, when the doors are downin the po- 5 sition shown in Fig. 2, form side guides for the materialbeing discharged. The device for supporting and operating the hingeddoors consists of the strut-links n, tensile-links 0, andoperating-links r, and the chains 3, one end of which is connected to aneye upon the operating-link r, and the other end of Which is connectedto and wound around the operating-shafts I. These shafts 25 pass acrossthe car from one side to the other, beneath the bottom 0, and upon oneend of the shaftst there are ratehets t and engaging-pawls t and theends of said shafts are made square, so that they can be turned by anordinary operating-wrench.

The strut-links n are connected at their upper ends pivotally to theunder side of the hinged doors h, and the tensile links 0 are connectedat one end pivotally to the car-body, and there are short shafts "apassing through the lower ends of the links a, 0, and '7, which shaftsform hinged joints for said link's, said links being duplicated at eachend of the shaft 24, at each side of each of the hinged doors. The links0' may be replaced by a continuation of the chains 8. It is preferableto construct these hinged doors in pairs that open downwardly away fromeach other, forming a V- chute, delivering in one or more piles thecontents of the car, which pass through the openings in the bottom ofthe car formed by the dropping of the doors.

From the drawings, Fig. 1, it will be seen that the links 92, o, and 1'form a truss, as it were, for the support of the hinged doors, the linksr and 0 being inclined at about an angle of forty-five degrees, whilethe links at are vertical, or approximately so, and support the weightof the contents of the car that are directly in the doors and partof theweight of the doors, and said doors close up snugly and securely againstthe surfaces of the angleiron strips 75 and Z in such a manner as toform, with the balance of the car-bottom c, an even and smooth surface,which is adapted to sup port and transport lumber or similar merchandisethat requires to lie flat upon bottom 0, and when the car is requiredto'transport coal, coke, ore, or similar merchandise that requires to bedelivered beneath the car the same is equally available, and saidmaterials can be discharged at their point of destination by the hingeddoors 7:, which can be dropped, as heretofore described;

I claim as my invention 1. The combination, in a freight-car, with thebottom 0, of hinged doors 7;, connected to and, when closed, forming aportion of the level and even bottom of said car, and with mechanism,substantially as described, for dropping said doors to discharge thecontents of the car, and for raising said doors and supporting them inplace, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, in a freight-car, with the bottom 0, of the hingeddoors 7L, connected to and, when closed, forming a portion of the bottomof said car, the strut-links a, connected at one end to the hingeddoors, the tensile links 0, connected at one end to the car-body, theshaft u, to which the other ends of the links at and 0 are pivoted, andoperating-links "1', connected at one end to the shafts u, the chains 8,and cross-shafts t, by which the hinged doors are supported andoperated, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

The combination, in a freight-car, with the bottom a, of the hingeddoors 7:, connected to and, when closed, forming a portion of the bottomof said car, the strutrlinks a, connected at one end to the hinged doors7L, the tensile links 0, connected at one end to the car-body, the shaft11, to which the other ends of the links a and 0 are pivoted, andoperating-links 7', connect-ed at one end to the shafts a, the chains 8,and cross-shafts t, by which the hinged doors are supported andoperated, and the angle-iron bars It I, connected to the bottom of thecar and at two or more opposite edges of the hinged doors, substantiallyas and for the purposes set forth.

Signed by me this 1st day of August, 1888.

JAMES 'IIIORN GOODFELLOW.

\Vitnesses:

Gno. T. PINCKNEY, 'WILLIAM G. Mom.

